The UN Report published earlier this week on the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Ghouta area of Damascus on Aug. 21, 2013 has clarified many issues but left the key questions unanswered: who committed the attack and who are the victims?

The UN inspection team led by Prof. Ake Sellstrom claims that they have collected “convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used …” Missiles with a caliber of 140 mm. were reportedly launched from an unspecified location somewhere “in the northwest.” [1] The report indicates that the inspection team was protected by opposition forces at the forensic sites and that those areas “…have been well travelled by other individuals both before and during the investigation.” It also states that the “fragments and other possible evidence have clearly been handled/moved prior to the arrival of the investigation team.” The experts also complained of “very limited time to conduct a detailed survey.”

According to a research made by New Eastern Outlook, the caliber of the missiles suggests that a Soviet-made, BM-14 series 140mm. multiple-rocket launcher was most likely used to shell Eastern Ghouta. This launcher, designed in 1951, was previously part of the Syrian Army’s inventory until it was replaced decades ago by the newer BM-21 (Grad, 122 mm. caliber, designed in 1963) and Chinese-made Type 63 (107 mm. caliber) launchers. However, the old-fashioned BM-14s are widely available in the region and were used, for example, by the Algerian rebels in the 1990s and the Taliban in 2000s. They are very compact and could easily have been secretly brought in to any location on that fatal night, even within the area controlled by government forces. Therefore the presumed location of the launch pad is insignificant, as any deserted suburb of Damascus that lies within range could have been used.

Another detail made public was a label found on a warhead. Mikhail Barabanov, an expert with the Russian Centre for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies commented that this label matches those on missiles produced in 1967 in Novosibirsk (Russia). One might justifiably wonder why the Syrian Army would launch a 46-year-old missile when it holds abundant stockpiles of far more reliable modern weapons. It is also worth noting that the production of chemical weapons in Syria began in the 1990s, when chemical facilities were built near Damascus, in Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. Thus, those missiles, filled with chemical agents, should be dated accordingly or later. If the date of a missile’s production does not match the production date for its chemical agent, it stands to reason that the warhead was filled in an underground laboratory or was even homemade. This is fully in keeping with earlier evidence regarding the use of homemade chemical weapons by rebels in Syria.

So despite Washington’s hasty claims that the UN Report points to Syrian government forces as the only potential perpetrator of the chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta on August 21, the actual details of the report seem to prove the opposite: the attack was carried out by the rebels and their mentors in a classic false flag operation designed to lure foreign military forces into an intervention in Syria.

Elaborating further George Galloway’s remarkable notes during the historical session of British parliament on Syria late August, “to launch a chemical weapons attack in Damascus on the very day that a United Nations chemical-weapons inspection team arrives in Damascus using an out-of-date missile in an ancient launcher must be a new definition of madness.”

Now – as for the victims. Who are they?

The report from the International Support Team for Mussalaha (Reconciliation) in Syria (ISTEAMS) [2] claims that based on eyewitness testimony and video evidence, the affected areas had been largely abandoned by local residents in the days prior to the attack. Yet the footage of the aftermath shows large numbers of very young victims. The report thoroughly analyses almost every relevant video that was posted on YouTube on the day of attack and reveals a number of facts challenging the established version of this tragedy. E.g., why there are so many unidentified children among those affected in those videos? Why there are almost no women? Why do some of the videos show clear signs of sophisticated overlapping? Why, in many instances, are the same individuals shown as both dead and alive?

Where are remaining 1,458 corpses other than the eight whose burials have been documented?

Until now we have had no direct, clear answers to these questions. However, the ISTEAMS report provides us with horrific evidence which might shed more light on the real, dark story behind the dreadful media manipulation in Eastern Ghouta. It tells of the abduction of dozens of Alawite civiliansjust prior to the chemical attacks in Lattakiah by Jubhat al-Nosra, the most powerful terrorist organization operating in Syria. On August 4, around 150 women and children were kidnapped in 11 villages in the Lattakiah mountains. Until now there has been no information about their current location and fate.

Below is a full list of the names of the abducted children below 15 years old:

In case at least one of them is identified by survived relatives on the video footage from Eastern Ghouta, there should be a sufficient legal ground to include Jabhat al-Nusrah and other rebel groups in Syria into the UN and national Al-Qaeda sanctions lists for further international judicial prosecution.

RT:The United States has used internet photos and video footage of the supposed chemical weapons attack in Eastern Guta to build a case against the Syrian government. Have you been able to look at these files? What do you have to say about them?

Mother Agnes [Mariam el-Salib]: I have carefully studied the footage, and I will present a written analysis on it a bit later. I maintain that the whole affair was a frame-up. It had been staged and prepared in advance with the goal of framing the Syrian government as the perpetrator.

The key evidence is that Reuters made these files public at 6.05 in the morning. The chemical attack is said to have been launched between 3 and 5 o’clock in the morning in Guta. How is it even possible to collect a dozen different pieces of footage, get more than 200 kids and 300 young people together in one place, give them first aid and interview them on camera, and all that in less than three hours? Is that realistic at all? As someone who works in the news industry, you know how long all of it would take.

The bodies of children and teenagers we see in that footage – who were they? What happened to them? Were they killed for real? And how could that happen ahead of the gas attack? Or, if they were not killed, where did they come from? Where are their parents? How come we don’t see any female bodies among all those supposedly dead children?

I am not saying that no chemical agent was used in the area – it certainly was. But I insist that the footage that is now being peddled as evidence had been fabricated in advance. I have studied it meticulously, and I will submit my report to the UN Human Rights Commission based in Geneva.

RT:Recently you’ve visited Latakia and the adjacent areas, you’ve talked to the eyewitnesses to the massacre of civilians carried out in Latakia by Jabhat al-Nusra. What can you tell us about it?

MA:What I want to ask first of all is how the international community can ignore the brutal killing spree in Latakia on Laylat al-Qadr early in the morning of August 5, an attack that affected more than 500 people, including children, women and the elderly. They were all slaughtered. The atrocities committed exceed any scale. But there was close to nothing about it in the international mass media. There was only one small article in “The Independent”, I believe.

We sent our delegation to these villages, and our people had a look at the situation on-site, talked to the locals, and most importantly – talked to the survivors of the massacre.

I don’t understand why the Western media apply double standards in this case – they talk about mass murder that the use of chemical weapons resulted in non-stop, but they keep quiet about the Latakia massacre.

RT:Do you know anything about the fate of hostages captured in Latakia?

A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on August 20, 2013 shows soldiers loyal to the regime forces wrapping a decomposed body that was allegedly discovered in a mass grave in northern Latakia, a province on the Mediterranean coast (AFP Photo)

MA: In the village of Estreba they massacred all the residents and burnt down their houses. In the village of al-Khratta almost all the 37 locals were killed. Only ten people were able to escape.

A total of twelve Alawite villages were subjected to this horrendous attack. That was a true slaughterhouse. People were mutilated and beheaded. There is even a video that shows a girl being dismembered alive – alive! – by a frame saw. The final death toll exceeded 400, with 150 to 200 people taken hostage. Later some of the hostages were killed, their deaths filmed.

At the moment we are looking for the hostages and negotiating their release with the militants, but so far we haven’t managed to achieve that.

RT:We often hear reports of Christians being persecuted by the militants. Just the day before yesterday there was an attack in the village of Maaloula, where the majority of population is Christian. Are Christians in Syria facing grave danger?

MA:Everyone in Syria is facing grave danger. There was a case of Muslim religious leaders being kidnapped and beheaded. They were humiliated and tortured. Ismailis, the druze, Christians – people from all parts of Syrian society – are being mass murdered. I would like to say that if these butchers didn’t have international support, no one would have dared to cross the line. But today, unfortunately, the violation of human rights and genocide in Syria is covered up on the international level. I demand the international community stops assessing the situation in Syria in accordance with the interests of a certain group of great powers. The Syrian people are being killed. They fall victim to contractors, who are provided with weapons and sent to Syria to kill as many people as possible. The truth is, everywhere in Syria people are being kidnapped, tortured, raped and robbed. These crimes remain unpunished, because the key powers chose international terrorism as a way to destroy sovereign states. They’ve done it to other countries. And they will just keep doing it if the international community doesn’t say “Enough!”

RT:You’ve managed to get hold of some sensitive information. Does this make you fear for your life as someone who keeps documents that may compromise the militants? Has anyone threatened you?

MA: You are right. I do get threatened. They are trying to discredit me. I know there is a book coming out soon in France that labels me as a criminal who kills people. But any believer should first and foremost trust their conscience, their belief in God, and that will help them save innocent lives. I don’t care much about my own life. My life is no more precious than that of any Syrian child, whose body could be used as evidence to justify wrongdoing. This is the biggest crime ever perpetrated in history.

RT:What should the Syrians do to stop the tragedy they are going through?

AFP Photo

MA: The Syrians themselves can do nothing to stop it. They can only rely on the international community, friendly nations, world powers, such as Russia, China, and India. With a lot of enthusiasm we did welcome the news that the British parliament voted against the participation of their country in the possible war against Syria. There is a terrorist war going on against Syria right now. The international community and Syria’s friends should join forces and say: Enough! And they need to use every opportunity to do that. Otherwise this threat Syria is facing now will turn into a threat to universal peace.

RT:What should the Vatican and other hubs of Christianity do to put an end to this tragedy?

MA: The Pope says he has no planes, no bombs, and no armed forces. Instead, he has the power of the truth, and the truth he has told. There are messages coming from everywhere in the world urging against a military intervention in Syria. Those who want to hear them will. The Pope, the patriarchs, Nobel Prize winners, including women, keep saying the same in unison: Let’s stop fighting. No conflict can be solved by military means. Stop adding fuel to the flame! All the prominent public figures in the world have risen to speak against the war. Everyone has spoken their mind, but the US prefers to turn a deaf ear. The world public opinion has turned against the US. It’s the first time in history that America is alone. They are claiming that they are backed by ten countries. But I insist they aren’t, because the people of these countries disagree with their governments. Even the American people disagree with their government.

RT:Do you believe that this tragedy will end and Syria will remain a homeland for all Syrians, regardless of their ethnical or religious identity?

MA: I’m not Syrian myself, but I’ve been living in Syria for 20 years. I’d like to remind everyone that Damascus is the most ancient capital in the world. I would like to remind everyone that Syria is the cradle of civilization. I would like to remind everyone that this is the holy land that gave birth to the main world religions. What is happening in Syria should serve as a lesson for everyone. I mean that in existential rather than political sense. I am convinced that with God’s help the Syrian people will be able to remain strong, heal their wounds, reconcile and chase out all the foreign mercenaries and terrorists. I believe there will be peace in Syria. But for that we need help from the international community.

It’s RT but thereagain we have Obama’s media – all i want is the truth.

Video: Confronting the Chemical Lies in Syria (Mother Agnes)

Mother Agnes Mariam is a Carmelite nun who has been living and working in Syria for the past 19 years. Now, she is seeking to set the record straight on the lies and disinformation that is driving the NATO powers toward war against the people of Syria. This is the GRTV Feature Interview with our special guest, Mother Agnes Mariam de la Croix.

[…]Documentary: THE LATTAKIA MASSACRES EARLY AUGUST 2103 This documentary was aired almost two weeks ago. I am describing it in English. It is about the massacres, kidnappings and destruction in the Lattakia countryside in the first week of August this year. I am also listing the initial list of names of victims and those kidnapped.

Ogarite Dandache of Mayadeen TV produced a special report on the massacres, kidnappings and attacks in the Lattakia area in the first week of August 2013.

The documentary is in Arabic. The following is an interpretation of what the documentary was about.

The first part of the documentary interviews survivors. One child describes how she hid for three days without food or water. Fifteen people from her village, including relatives were killed. One of the children was recognised in a hospital in Turkey and was brought back to Syria. A doctor speaks about the child’s case. He says the girl has had surgery but as shrapnel is still inside her body he is unable to ascertain what her operation was for. There have been reports of kidnappings with the victims being taken to Turkey for organ harvesting. The little girl says all she remembers was being taken to Turkey with her mother.

Another little girl was hiding in the forest for eleven days without food or water until rescued by the army. Her Aunty is with her in the hospital and said the child has hardly spoken but described that the terrorists came from all directions and took many hostages who till today are still missing. The Aunty described her niece as so traumatized that she barely speaks at all and appears scared of everyone including her family. The child recollected walking with her father and brothers when suddenly they came under attack. She was unsure whether her father was hit by gunfire but she hid in the forest. The Aunty ponders how this child will react when she comes out of shock and realises that 50 members of her family have been killed. The final toll of victims is still unknown.

A boy speaks of being outside when he and his family were shot at by machine gunfire. His father was hit and his male cousin was taken hostage. The boy hid in his cousin’s house with his grandmother and other relatives and things got worse as the house was shelled and his brother was hit in the back and died.

An elderly woman shares her harrowing experience. She came from a small hamlet comprised of three houses. Realising that the terrorists were closing in from all directions she said to her husband that they were coming to kill them. Her husband said they would have to kill him first before anything happened to the family. He was killed. The elderly woman felt great fear for the girls in the family. They managed to hide but the shelling was so bad and the terrorists kidnapped members of the family.

Ogarite showed a map of the areas where the attacks happened. She stated that the terrorists had been in the area for some time and that it wasn’t the first time there had been attacks. She revealed that these attacks were made possible due to some traitors inside the Syrian Arab Army who had defected and given inside information. She explained that the terrain and conditions were not easy for the terrorists to hold and they either retreated or were killed after a short period.

The terrorists aim was to strike a psychological blow to the President and the nation by hitting the village of the birthplace of the Assads. The terrorists had become desperate for some gains due to their failures throughout the country and their failed goal of declaring on Eid an Islamic Emirate in Aleppo. Another objective was to inflame sectarian tensions in Lattakia but that aslo failed. They wanted to lure other militants into the area to support them and to ease pressure off their colleagues in Aleppo by creating a side battle.

In a village called Nabi Younis, the terrorists were faced by strong resistance and were unable to take over. The village is on a hill top in a strategic area. The reporter interviewed the Army commander in charge of defending this town. He explained that it is a key point between the coast and Hama as well as between Idlib and Aleppo and control of this area blocks the terrorists from advancing on other fronts. The commander said their fight was one to defend the country, one of principles and this ground had to be held as imperative.

At the time of this documentary being filmed there were areas where the battles were still going on. Another strategic hill top was under heavy fire and sniper fire. From this point onwards soldiers had to clear the area with artillery and then proceed with hand to hand combat. The journalist had to stop for some time shielding herself from gunfire.

All these areas at the time of the documentary being filmed were close to being secured by the Army.

Ogarite Dandache continued throughout various locations with the Army coming across many abandoned weapons and devices. In one place there were packages of charges and explosives left behind, most likely to be used to block the road leaving it impassable. Packages of foodstuffs and water were found, water and food packages made in Turkey, dates from Qatar amongst other items.

The soldiers came across and ancient cave church called Tallet Al Khodr . It is a shrine to an Islamic saint with pictures of Mother Mary adorning it.

The Army and journalist entered the area near Balouta, a village in the hands of the terrorists. They prepare to take the village back under control. Entering the village they see deceased villagers and a donkey runs around hysterically. Missiles being launched are seen close by. Soldiers take positions throughout the olive groves.

In the village plastic chairs strategically placed in sunny spots sit empty and forlorne. The once idyllic and picturesque village is all smashed up. More foodstuffs are found. The packaging is written in Turkish. Throughout the village homes are completely smashed, photographs of the inhabitants lie everywhere on the ground, photos of children, weddings and happy moments.

Various banners and scrawled messages are around indicating which gangs of terrorists were in this village. Battles went on for two weeks in this village. Some of the names of the gangs were displayed; “Jabhat al Nusra”, “Dawat al Islam”, “Katibet Soukour al-Iz”, “The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham” and “Haraqat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyyah”.

The land is back in the hands of the people but the people are not there. Many have been killed, many taken hostage and many will return to see their homes in ruins.

——————————————————— Names of the victims of the massacres which wiped out entire families, committed by #Al_Nusra_Front backed by hundreds of terrorists from ( #Baghdad_and_Al_Sham_Islamic_State_Army ) terrorist group against the civillians in 8 villages in the countryside north-eastern city of #Latakia and #Slenfeh. This happened at the dawn of Sunday 4/8/2013 :